In Parliament demanding an apology from Israel for the “Soviet myth” about Babi Yar

In Parliament demanding an apology from Israel for the “Soviet myth” about Babi Yar

28.09.2016

Ukrainian MPs were angered by the words of the President of Israel Reuven Rivlin, who reminded Parliament about the involvement of the OUN-UPA crimes of Nazism. Mentioning historical facts was called the humiliation of the Ukrainian nation, and the role of the nationalists in the tragedy of Babi Yar – the “Soviet myth”. Especially zealous Oleg Lyashko, whose colleagues in the faction were seen in the glorification of Hitler.

The leader of the Ukrainian Radical party and head of its faction in the Verkhovna Rada Oleg Lyashko demanded an apology from the President of Israel for a word about the complicity of Ukrainians with the Nazis in crimes against Jews during the Second world war.

“I am very sorry that when Poroshenko visited the memorial of Yad Vashem, he was not given a book with thousands of evidence that did collaborators of the Nazis, which is now in Ukraine are heroes”

“Speech Rivlin humiliates Ukrainians, therefore, I call on the Israeli President to apologize to our government and our people. And the Knesset (Parliament) of Israel finally to recognize the Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian people, as the Parliament in 2008, has acknowledged the Holocaust genocide of the Jews,” – said Lyashko.

We will remind, earlier this week, Rivlin headed to Ukraine for an official visit, timed to the 75th anniversary of the Babi Yar tragedy. September 27, Rivlin addressed the Verkhovna Rada, where he reminded that on the territory of modern Ukraine during the Second world war were killed about 1.5 million Jews and collaborators were the Ukrainians, including the infamous fighters of the OUN. “At Babi Yar and other places they (the Jews) were shot in the forests near ravines and ditches, pushed into mass graves. Many of the accomplices of the crime were Ukrainians. And of particular note were the fighters of the OUN, who mocked the Jews, killed them, and in many cases given to the Germans,” said Rivlin.

He noted that “relations between the Ukrainian and Jewish peoples today looking to the future”. However, “we cannot allow… the story of how the terrible and good events, forgotten. It is impossible to rehabilitate and glorify anti – Semite,” called on the Israeli President.

In conclusion he expressed hope for the early identification of all victims of Babi Yar. “It is necessary to identify each of the deceased and to honor his memory,” he said.

“To accuse the OUN in the Holocaust – is to humiliate the Ukrainian nation”

The words of Israeli President angered not only the government, but the Deputy Chairman of the state Committee for television and radio broadcasting of Ukraine, leader of Organization of Ukrainian nationalists (OUN) Bohdan Chervak.

“What did the President of the state of Israel in the Ukrainian Parliament, can be interpreted unambiguously is a spit in the soul of Ukrainians. To accuse the OUN in the Holocaust and even during the parliamentary hearings on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Babi Yar tragedy is to humiliate the Ukrainian nation,” said Chervak in your Facebook. He stressed that Rivlin “have not seen the new Ukraine”, and then asked to intervene in the situation of the Jewish community in Ukraine, so they convinced the President of Israel that “to read the Moscow Newspapers and watch the rostv is not just bad, but better.

The wave of indignation was joined by Chairman of the state of the Ukrainian Institute of national memory Vladimir vyatrovich. He stated that the OUN in the Holocaust was not involved, and the statements of the President of Israel called the Soviet myth.

According to the Chairman of the Institute of memory, the blame for this tragedy rests not only on the artists but on the Soviet Communist regime tried to hush up the scale of crimes – say, in the USSR all the victims of Babi Yar were called “Soviet people”, in addition, the place of their death allegedly tried to build sports facilities, said viatrovych, who was quoted by DW.

In response, the Russian historian and writer Alexander Dyukov in your Facebook viatrovych called the “moron-revisionist”. “It is not enough that he denies the obvious and studied by historians is the fact he can not to remain silent when necessary”, – he wrote.

Rivlin did not respond to revisionist research “Ukrainian patriots”. On Wednesday, he was forced to interrupt a visit to the demise of former head of state Shimon Peres. We will remind, the Nobel peace prize winner, former Israeli President Shimon Peres has died in the night of Wednesday at the age of 93 years, never recovered from a stroke he suffered two weeks ago.

Myths and truth about the great Patriotic war During the occupation of Kiev in the autumn of 1941 until the liberation of the city in 1943 – Babi Yar became a mass grave for hundreds of thousands of victims of the Nazis, mainly Jews, but also Gypsies, prisoners of war and others. Only two days – September 29-30, 1941, the number of murdered Jews exceeded 33 thousand. The exact death toll is not established yet. In total, according to historians, there were killed more than 150 thousand people, among whom, according to researchers of the Holocaust, was not less than 50 thousand Jews.

Petro Poroshenko has already tried to apologize for the crimes of Ukrainian Nazis against the Jews. So, during a visit to Israel in December 2015, Poroshenko said about the importance of the role of Jews in the creation of Ukraine: “the Hebrew language was one of the official the young Ukrainian state, and the Jews as a nation have been directly involved in its creation.” Meant he of the Ukrainian people’s Republic during the Civil war.

Note that the head of the UNR, “head ataman Simon Petlura, according to historians, if not and had no relation to the Jewish pogroms, it did not interfere with that, what they do formally obey the armed groups. Petlura was killed in France in 1926 an anarchist Samuel Schwartzbard, who, in his own words, avenged 15 of their relatives, including parents, killed in Ukraine Petliurists during the Jewish pogroms. The French jury trial Schwartzbard was acquitted.

We will add that being in Israel, Poroshenko mentioned and not the most pleasant for the Ukrainian nationalists episode of the Second world war. “We must remember about the negative events of history when the minions helped the Nazis When Ukraine was formed, we have already asked for forgiveness, and I apologize for it now, in the Knesset, to the children and grandchildren of Holocaust victims, to all citizens of Israel,” he said. “Such a humiliation of Ukrainians was not yet in the country’s history…”, – commented on the statement by Ukrainian President Lyashko. Then, the Verkhovna Rada Deputy from the party Lyashko Artem Vitko starred in the video, singing a song in honor of the leader of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler, after which the record is disseminated in the network.

“Monuments to Hitler in the Ukraine – a matter of time

The President of the Middle East Institute Yevgeny Satanovsky believes that, unfortunately, the reaction of Lyashko and Petrovskogo to the words of the President of Israel is quite predictable. “The current regime has made heroes of Ukraine the people responsible for the murder of Jews and poles, those who worked for the Abwehr, the SS, the Gestapo. Hitler they still do not make monuments, but it’s all a matter of time”, – said the expert newspaper VIEW.

As for the official response of Israel to such statements, then, according to Satanovsky, then the decision should be taken by the Israeli leadership.

Israeli analyst and former senior Israeli intelligence officer, Yakov Kedmi considers that the reference made by the President of Israel Reuven Rivlin in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the inadmissibility of the glorification of anti-Semites is the right step. “This statement was balanced by the adoption of Poroshenko in Israel in December 2015”, – said the expert newspaper VIEW.

In addition, Kedmi rigidly commented on the reaction to this statement of the Ukrainian propagandists. In his opinion, neither Israel nor the Jewish people are no data confirming the participation of Bandera in the Holocaust is not needed.

“We better know them, and who destroyed our people, have numerous real evidence, not propaganda and speculation. I am very sorry that when Poroshenko visited the memorial of Yad Vashem, he was not given a book with thousands of documents and evidence that created those Nazi collaborators who now believe the Ukrainian heroes”, – said the interlocutor. Kedmi noted that he “has friends whose relatives were killed by the Bandera during world war II and friends, whose relatives were killed Baltic collaborators. We studied the Catastrophe was not propaganda, it touched every home, and all of these statements Lyashko and Petrovskogo we do not need”, – he said.

* Organization in respect of which the court accepted entered into legal force decision on liquidation or ban the activities on the grounds stipulated by the Federal law “On countering extremist activity”